Upgradation of facility: Civic agency foots parade ground development bill

Army has asked CDA to improve the facility for Pakistan Day show

ISLAMABAD:

The Capital Development Authority (CDA) will pay for uplift work at the parade ground near Shakarparian, even though the facility remains under the army’s control.

After last year’s parade, the army retained management of the facility and asked CDA to install gates at entry and exit points to secure the area. It has since become a restricted area for common citizens. Even civic agency staffers are barred from entering it.

The CDA had spent Rs634 million to develop the facility.

The ground hosted the Pakistan Day parade last year after the practice had been discontinued for seven years due to security concerns.

“Since last year, the management of the ground remains with the army. It was a verbally communicated decision,” said a CDA board member, requesting not to be named. He explained that legally, the CDA owns the facility and is thus liable to maintain it.

The tentative cost of development work is Rs2.03 million.

Another CDA board member said that the civic authority had spent Rs100 million to fence off the area in a bid to secure it from encroachers. He opined that “it’s a better option that the army keeps management control to secure it.”

He recalled that in 2007, when the Rangers had been called in due to the worsening law and order situation in the city, they had been stationed in Pir Sohawa and Saidpur Village, where they had been given permission to set up temporary housing, especially tents, on a five-acre area.

Today, according to CDA records, Rangers have encroached upon over 22 acres and have walled off the area to build fortified concrete structures including barracks and official residences. These areas are also no-go zones for civilians.

According to the Islamabad master plan, the city was supposed to have a dedicated exhibition area.

In 2007, during the Musharraf regime, work on the project was initiated and thousands of trees were felled in the one square-kilometre area. Last year, after a decision was taken to restart Pakistan Day parades, work on the project was completed on an emergency basis.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 10^th, 2016.